Page 97 of Lone Star

“If you don’t, I’ll walk out of this cafeteria right now, and leave you to fend for yourself.”

Her eyes widened another impossible fraction, and she chewed at her lip.

Eden pushed her chair back.

“Wait!”

Eden paused.

Gwen took a long moment, surveying the room again, shrinking down into herself, all hunched up like a timid mouse in her chair. Her gaze fixed on the double doors of the cafeteria, and she spoke in a rapid, breathless whisper. “It really was just a job at first. I got fired from my last one – that little goth place downtown, Tootsie’s – for shoplifting. I couldn’t get hired anywhere else, but Carlos finally took me on. I just had to answer the phone and shit, make appointments.” She gave a fast shrug. “It sucked, but it was a check.

“And then–” She broke off, and chewed her lip another moment, gaze skipping over to Eden.

“What happened?”

The girl swallowed with obvious effort. “I went back late one day, after I’d left. I forgot my laptop. The lights were off, up front, but they were on in the back, and I heard voices. I recognized Carlos’s. But, like, alotof voices. Way more than just the mechanics. I thought they were having a party or something. So when I went around to get my bag, I just peeked over the wall, and–”

Another swallow. Her jaw trembled, and she blinked hard. Eden had seen this kind of fear before; it had a scent; had an aura that vibrated like a plucked guitar string in the air around a person.

“Carlos and the mechanics were there, but so were a bunch of other guys.”

“The guys who stormed the place today?” Eden asked.

“Yeah. The crew. Luis’s guys.”

“You’ve met Luis?” She made a mental note of the name; Jinx had been too busy passing out to forward that information along, if indeed he’d learned it inside the office before.

“Once. That night.” Gwen had begun to tremble all over. “There was – there was a girl there. They were all standing around her. She was lying flat out on one of the work benches, just…staring. Not moving. Her dress was all dirty. And Luis – he was standing beside her. He pulled her dress down, and was, like – he wasshowingher to them.”

Human trafficking, as Eden suspected. Her stomach soured, and she took a sip of her tea in hopes of soothing it.

“And then” – tears filled Gwen’s eyes – “he looked up, and he saw me.”

“Did you try to get away?”

“Yeah. But I wasn’t fast. It was Carlos who caught me.” She closed her eyes, tears trembling on her lashes. “He took me back over there, behind the counter, and sat me down in a chair. Luis came up, and he was…” She winced. “I was expecting some old sweaty gangster, you know? Fat and gross and ugly. But Luis was – he was hot.” She bowed her head, ashamed. “And he was really polite, you know? He was sweet? He introduced himself to me, and he asked what my name was, and he asked if I was going to tell anyone what I saw.”

“Oh, Gwen,” Eden sighed. “They never let you walk away. Promises don’t mean anything to people like Luis.”

Gwen lifted her head, fresh tears sliding down the dried mascara tracks on her cheeks. “I told him I’d help them.”

Eden pitied her, really. “The cartel needs you to answer phones?”

For a moment, she thought the girl would bristle again. It stung to be insulted, even if it was well-deserved. But she only took a shaky breath and said, “I’m the go-between with the trucking companies.”

Eden felt her brows go up.

“How so?”

“They don’t use their own trucks – less risk that way. If a truck gets stopped, and the cops search it, there’s not cartel guys behind the wheel to arrest. They let me make the phone calls and go drop off checks in person, with either Mack or Shawn.”

In the melee, Eden had spotted two big, muscled white guys rushing toward them. “Shit,” she said. “They need you because you don’t look like you’re attached to the cartel.”

Gwen nodded.

“Well. I give them points for creativity.”

~*~

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